Andy Murray strolled to his most convincing victory of the 2024 season so far as he overcame Belgian qualifier David Goffin in straight sets in his Indian Wells opener.
The three-time Grand Slam champion - who has hinted that this year will be his last on the ATP Tour - needed just 80 minutes to record a 6-3 6-2 win and advance to round two, where Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev lies in wait.
An exceptional serving display from Murray saw the former world number one win 85% of points behind his first serve and 72% behind his second, while not allowing Goffin a single break point opportunity all afternoon.
Murray, who is now 8-0 in ATP Tour matches with Goffin, labelled his serving performance on Wednesday the "best" he has ever produced at Indian Wells, which is just one of two Masters tournaments he has never won alongside the Monte-Carlo Masters.
"That's the best I've served here. I've always struggled serving certainly the last 10 years or so when I've been here for whatever reason. Today felt much better," Murray said during his post-match media duties.
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While Murray kicked off his bid for a maiden Indian Wells crown in emphatic fashion, the up-and-coming Jack Draper failed to join his countryman in round two as Christopher O'Connell fought back to eliminate the 22-year-old.
Draper dropped just one game in a dominant first set, but Australia's O'Connell demonstrated his tremendous powers of recovery to record a 1-6 6-3 6-2 victory, five years on from beating the Brit in their inaugural meeting at Fairfield.
Despite winning five games on the spin in the opener, Draper's ride was not plain-sailing - the 22-year-old beat away four break points in the fifth game - and he was broken immediately in the second owing to a double fault.
The world number 37 had no answer to O'Connell's defence for the remainder of the second set, but after saving four break points in the opening match of the third, he would benefit from an O'Connell double fault to break to love.
However, an alarming capitulation saw Draper bow out with a whimper as he lost six games in a row, hitting four unforced errors in the seventh game before O'Connell advanced on his eighth ace of the day.
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Off the court, three-time winner Rafael Nadal - who was due to enter via a protected ranking - announced his withdrawal on social media, explaining that he was not fit enough to compete at the highest level again just yet.
In the women's first round, Katie Boulter - fresh from winning her maiden WTA 500 title at the San Diego Open - could not carry forward that momentum as she was beaten 3-6 2-6 by Italy's Camila Giorgi.
The British number one hit six double faults and only took one of her four chances to break Giorgi, who also fashioned four openings on the Boulter serve and converted all four of them.
Thursday's schedule will see wildcard Emma Raducanu take on Spanish qualifier Rebeka Masarova for the chance to meet Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska in round two, while Dan Evans pits his wits against Russia's Roman Safiullin.
Ben Knapton
